


Clear Glass

by Hawkright01121999



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crimson Flower Route, Everyone deserves better, F/M, Gen, I need a DLC where eveyone is happy, Implied Byleth x Bernadetta, Major canon divergence, OOC M!Byleth, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Two Byleths (eventually)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-07
Updated: 2019-08-07
Packaged: 2020-08-11 02:54:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20146426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hawkright01121999/pseuds/Hawkright01121999
Summary: What use was victory when everyone they'd fought with was gone? What is victory and pride worth when they stood in the blood and ashes of friends and enemies.The response of a burning city and the silence of the dead was their answer.A crazy idea to deny fate its given due. Maybe for once... just once... the Professor and the Emperor could save the people they care about.





	Clear Glass

**Author's Note:**

> So… fuck Nintendo and Intelligent Systems for Fire Emblem Three Houses because of the the Crimson Flower and Verdant Wind endings. Like… fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck I hate those endings but love them. Like it was great and all but where was my option to save everyone, huh? Dmitri in both endings deserved some love and I haven’t even played the Blue Lions route! I can alredy tell he’s getting fucked over!
> 
> And what about Jeralt, huh?! Why couldn’t I save the good strong reliable father who you could tell was gonna die but still didn’t want him to die?!
> 
> I am absolutely not heartbroken by the endings. I’m not.
> 
> Claude and Dmitri deserved better in the Crimson Flower route while Edelgard’s cutscene just absolutely broke me in the Verdant Wind route since I’d had my first playthrough in the ‘alternate’ CF ending which I didn’t realise was something you had to search for and got by accident.
> 
> They all deserve some love so here I am fucking up canon till they hopefully have a DLC coming out where everyone lives because fuck Nintendo and IS, these students of mine deserve all the love.
> 
> Except Rhea… Crimson Flower absolutely made me hate her with how she acts.
> 
> (Edelgard Route Spoiler!)  
(Edelgard Route Spoiler!)  
(Edelgard Route Spoiler!)  
(Edelgard Route Spoiler!)  
(Edelgard Route Spoiler!)  
(Edelgard Route Spoiler!)  
(Edelgard Route Spoiler!)  
(Edelgard Route Spoiler!)  
(Edelgard Route Spoiler!)  
(Edelgard Route Spoiler!)  
(Edelgard Route Spoiler!)  
(Edelgard Route Spoiler!)  
(Edelgard Route Spoiler!)
> 
> Note: Edelgard knows about Divine Pulse.
> 
> Now that the whole rant o mine is out of the way, headcannons a-go!

The two of them stood in the burning ruins of Fhirdiad, burning ash and flaming cinders crackled around the two as they beheld the otherwise silent capital of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus.

One of them, clad in armour of scarlet red, took shaky steps towards a fallen body. With rattled breaths she collapsed sobbing, pressing the fore of a golden crown into the black-suited body of a cooling corpse. “I-It wasn’t meant to be like this…” Edelgard choked out as she clutched onto the body of her most stalwart companion. “I’m so _so_ sorry Hubert.”

The other said nothing. A man with a head of mint green allowed his eyes to roam across the burning city, allowing his sight to wash over heads of various shades.

Lilac

Light Blue

Dark Green

Brunette

Orange

Dark Purple

The man, Byleth as he was known, stumbled slowly to each cooling corpse and gave them their final rites of peace. With each prayer to the Goddess and his hand closing their unseeing eyes, the more and more he felt something rise from his chest and lodge itself into his throat. It almost felt like he was gasping for air, the feeling in his throat burning as he bit back unshed tears.

The last body he reached was a short girl with lilac hair and pale skin. Dressed in the clothes of a sniper she held a bow made of cobalt and silver. The man also on shaky legs fell to her side, the something in his throat breaking as he closed her eyes for the last time and recalled every moment he’d had with her.

He remembered when they’d first met alongside the rest of the Black Eagles House, she was shy and stuttering, barely able to meet his eyes as she stood beside her classmates. He remembered as he gave lies of cake in order to make sure she’d get to class on time.

He remembered her short hair in the academy days when she could barely go five minutes without squeaking in fear of someone out to kill her, mostly due to her imagination of course. He remembered her quiet bouts of happiness as she gardened in the dead of night, himself up in worry for his little bird.

He remembered as she gave directions to a woman, watching from afar to make sure she was safe. Walking forward and chatting with her in simpler times. Of her singing in the greenhouses. He remembered her telling him about the deeds of her father and what he’d done to her. He remembered the thanks she gave for giving her a second chance at life. Giving her the confidence to leave her room and experience the world, and finally the promise to always be by her side.

And now she was dead.

The tears came forth unbidden as he finally cracked, clutching her body to him if only hoping to bring her back. To bring them back. To bring his children back. And they weren’t the only ones. Other students and teachers that had fought by their side.

And the ones they had fought. Dmitri and Claude, Dedue and Hilda as well. 

But it was not to be.

Fate’s decree was absolute.

No matter how much he turned back the hands of time, they would all eventually fall one way or another. Just like his Father. No matter what he tried they would _always_ die.

It wasn’t fair.

A gentle hand rest itself on the man’s shoulder. He looked up and found Edelgard looking down at him with red-rimmed eyes, a silent plea in her orbs of lilac. Looking back at the body of the woman he cared so much about he gently lowered her down.

He sat there for a moment.

With an absentminded thought, he reached down into his pouch and produced a simple band of steel. Inlayed within the band were inlays of silver and sapphire. Gently he placed the ring in the hands of the woman he'd loved and clasped them over her chest. He'd never be able to tell her how much he'd come to care and love her. How he'd wanted to live the rest of their life together.

Not anymore.

He stood up slowly, chokingly almost unwilling to let go. He turned to his emperor and looked at her pleading eyes, and unasked question shining in them. A certain desperation that showed various emotions and inner turmoil to leak through. He accepted her unasked questions with open arms to which she accepted in a rush, arms wrapping around him as his own wrapped around hers. 

She wept openly for the loss of her friends and closest companions.

He wept for the loss of his students who'd become his children and the love of his life.

Together they wept for the people they’d lost.

“I-It wasn’t m-meant to be like this…” Edelgard hiccupped into her last companion’s chest. “We were meant to win!”

“We did… we won…” Byleth rasped out, throat constricting as his heart truly experienced loss for the first time. Eyes stinging not from the smoke but from the agony of his heart being shorn in two by emotions unfamiliar.

He felt his student crash against his chest as she continued to sob, heavily this time. Slowly the sobs subsided and all the remained was here hiccupping form as she clutched him tighter, afraid that should she let go, he would disappear forever. “Without them… without Hubert… without everyone… was this really worth it…?” she asked, her question muffled but struck loud in Byleth’s mind.

He knew the answer but didn’t want to say it. Instead, he asked, “What do you think… El?

She didn’t give any reaction to her nickname but nonetheless answered. “Without any of them… I don’t think any of this was worth it.”

Silence stood tall between the two.

Looking around the burning capital of Fhiriad, watching as the flames continued to crackle in the now lifeless city, Byleth clutched his last student afraid he'd lose her as well. “I tried so hard to save them, El I did… I swear. I wound back the hands of time so much, but no matter what I did… it always ends like this.” Byleth clutched her tighter, regrets building in his chest. “The only way I was able to save them was by stopping them from fighting… but you would always die in their stead.”

“Don’t do this to me, Professor… to us… it’s not fair…” Lilac eyes met his own but there was a hurt in them. “I know you tried to save them… but it’s like you said before… sometimes it’s fated to happen.”

And he knew that. He knew that all too well but he just couldn’t come to grips with the harsh reality. His father and now his children. They were dead, leaving behind two broken people in the midst of a silent city.

“If I turned back the hands of time just one more time… would you join me?”

It was crazy.

There was absolutely no chance that it would work. Sothis had told him that going back too far could cause complications, but… 

…there was nothing left to lose except each other.

“My teacher… don’t give me false hope…” Edelgard grimaced, burgeoning hope grew within. The hope that grew and grew in the most desperate and desolate of situations.

Byleth winced as the hope in her eyes wavered, his own wavering in tandem. “I’m… unsure if this will work.” he said as he held the Sword of the Creator and gently pushed it into the hands of his student. The sword still held its powerful glow, pulsing and radiating with power. “I’ve tried so many times to change the past… to change the future but fate’s decree is powerful… But I want to give it one last chance. For them.”

“P-Professor?” 

“El… Edelgard…” she looked up at him and watched as hope blossomed into something more in his eyes. “All I ask is that you trust me… just… one last time… please.” It hurt her to watch as the emotions tore him apart. He was grieving… heavily. He’d gone from denial, past anger and into bargaining.

But so had she.

She held the hope, that her professor could do the impossible. To turn back the hands of time. He'd once escaped death itself. Maybe, just maybe he'd be able to bring about one more miracle.

“Very well… my teacher. For them." She allowed herself to hold the sword in his grasp, the two of them holding it together. "I will always trust you.”

Byleth gave a hopeful smile and held out his other hand, the Crest of Flames emerging.

She did the same.

She watched in shock as the sword shone like a star, feeling as the power of her crest flowed into the sword. Byleth gave her a joyful, insane grin. She gave one in return.

_Divine Pulse_

Byleth used the last remnants of his power that he still held onto, of Sothis’ power and turned back the hands of time. He didn’t know if it would work, he didn’t even know if it was safe or possible to bring someone with him.

But none of that mattered now.

The world around them seem to reverse, going faster and faster as Edelgard watch on in awe and fascination as time seemed to go backwards around them.

Byleth concentrated as images passed by.

The Assault of Arianrhod.

The Invasion of Derdriu.

His return to Garreg Mach.

The attack of the Holy Tomb.

Kronya’s sacrifice and his own imprisonment in the darkness of Zahras.

His Father’s Death.

Zanado, the Red Canyo-

“GAAAH!” Byleth screamed, his whole body wracking with pain, almost losing grip of the sword.

“Professor!”

He’d barely paid his student any attention as the images moved faster and faster. As his body began to fail him, he swung the sword. Thankfully, Edelgard had been able to help and swung it upwards with him.

** _I warned you that using my power too much was dangerous… but you always were less than a child, weren’t you?_ **

The voice rang in his mind as a tear ripped through time, bright shining light embracing the two.

Byleth blearily could make out the screams of his students but it was soon drowned by the all-encompassing pain that consumed him.

** _I suppose you’d have learnt your lesson now… but fret not._ **

** _I am with you once more._ **


End file.
